Back to Square One

“Hey guys! Listen up!” Stephanie shouted at us. We were in the living room of the mansion where she’d gathered all of our their friends and family. “We’re moving the wedding,” she said.

“What? Where? Why?” Chance asked.

“We’re moving the wedding to France and because we just wanted to,” she said eyeing them carefully. They went quiet and nodded in understanding. Was I the only lost one here?

I frowned and spoke up. “So, when are we leaving?” I asked coolly, making everyone’s eyes snap towards me.

“Tonight,” she said. It’s been a couple days since the party, and the wedding was three days away. The Bachelor’s and Bachelorette’s party was tomorrow, just in time if we leave tonight.

“Why there?” I asked, not feeling like traveling.

“Because I want it there,” she glared at me. “If you don’t wanna go, then stay here,” she spat at me, surprising that she got so pissed. Everyone looked at me again, squirming in their seats. “Sorry, just the nerves are getting to me,” she frowned as Tristan wrapped his arms around her.

Everyone had went their gone their own ways and packed.

I went up to pack my own stuff and in the process, Stephanie knocked on my door.

“Yes?” I asked when I turned to look at her. She gave me a soft smile and closed the door behind her. I raised an eyebrow at her actions. “Did you need anything?” I asked.

She merely nodded. “Can we talk?”

“Yeah, of course,” I said dumping all my stuff onto the floor to make room for us to sit. We were quiet for a moment, and slightly awkward, given that we haven’t spoken like this in almost two years.

“I just wanted to say I’m sorry,” she said quietly. I raised an eyebrow at her. I didn’t expect that.

“Sorry for what?”

“I’ve been such a bitch to you, and I didn’t realize it until earlier,” she sighed. “Ever since Hazelyn left, I haven’t been a sister to you. In the past year and a half, I’ve been pulling myself away from you and I’m your damn twin. I’m supposed to help you and be on your side! I’m supposed to pull you through every step of the way, and the fact that I don’t even know the whole story makes me even more of a bitch,” she sniffled and wiped her eyes.

“Stephanie,” I sighed and pulled her into my arms. “It’s okay,” I assured her.

“No, it’s not! You’re my twin! Nothing should be able to get in the way of that! We think alike, we act alike. I should know that there must be some kind of explanation of the whole incident and the reason why you haven’t taken a kid home! I know there is, if only you’d let me know and assure me that you didn’t get that chick pregnant,” she pleaded.

I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair. “I didn’t get her pregnant,” I stated.

She straightened up and looked at me, her tears stopping. “Then, what happened?”

“She snuck into my room the night Hazelyn broke up with me back in Stanford, since we went out to drink, and you know, practically supposedly raped me,” I looked at my sister that had a disgusted look on her face. “Yeah, but the thing was, it wasn’t me. It was another guy from the football team, since we switched rooms because Kyle was pretty pissed at me, and I wanted to give him space.”

I looked back at my sister who had a shocked look, her hands covering her mouth. I was about to ask her if she was okay, but she quickly threw her arms around me and squealed. “Oh my gosh! I-I-I’m so happy! I knew you wouldn’t do anything like that!” she squealed.

I chuckled softly. “Thanks,” I smirked. She pulled away from me and looked at me seriously.

“I’m still sorry. I can’t believe I treated you like that, and now I feel like a shitty sister and I can’t imagine how you must feel,” she frowned. “Why don’t you tell everyone else?” she asked.

“No! This stays between you and I!”

“Why?”

“Because I know everyone else has communication with Hazelyn, and I know they’re going to tell her. It’s gonna make me seem like a wimp that I can’t tell her myself,” I explained. “Please.”

“Fine, but I’m telling Tristan,” she bargained.

“Fine, but make sure he keeps his mouth shut,” I mumbled.

“Deal,” she extended her hand for a handshake. I just looked down on it and chuckled, putting my own hand in and pulling her for a hug, earning a chuckle.

“I just missed you,” I said to her as I hugged her tighter.

I’m one step closer.

I finished packing, which was followed by a fifteen hour flight got us to Paris at 6:00 p.m there. I was tired. Dead tired, and once I got into the hotel room, I crashed right away.



I woke up, quickly checking the time and stretching out quietly. I then noticed I had a girl on my chest and her arms loosely around my waist. Must’ve taken her home last night I thought to myself.

She had a familiar smell, but I couldn’t quite point it out. But I knew I’ve smelled it before. It smelled… I don’t even know how to describe it. It was a little taste of heaven. I inhaled it some more when I realized that this is the scent that I’ve been looking for, that I’ve been dying to smell again. I scrunched my eyebrows, and something hit me. I didn’t take a girl home last night. I’m in Paris for my sister’s wedding.

Before I could process anything, I heard an ear-piercing scream and the girl jumped away from the bed, staring down at me. I looked up at her face. Even though she looked so much different with her bottle-blonde hair and her much more mature appearance, I knew I’d be able to recognize her anywhere.

Hazelyn.

I was speechless as my heart attempted to beat out of my chest. For a moment, we just stared at each other but that shocking moment was broken when she spoke up. Well, more like screeched.

“What the fuck are you doing here?!”

“I’m here for my sister’s wedding,” I shrugged, putting up my façade hiding my shock.

“I know you are, I’m wondering why you’re in my room!”

“Your room?” I asked. Oh fuck! This is her room! “Why are you here?” I asked, turning the table on her

“I’m here for a meeting,” she mumbled.

“What meeting?”

“Stock holder of-,” she started, then caught herself and glared at me. “Why am I explaining this to you? Get out of my room!” she yelled.

“No! I’m tired, you go get a room!” I retorted. She let out an irritated sound and stomped out of the room. I just stared at the door, not believing that I just saw her. After three long years, I’ve finally found her! For people that told me: ”You have to go look for her, because you won’t just wake up and have her in your arms,” I’d tell them. “Well fuck, I had her in my arms this morning!”

I chuckled at my silly thoughts, but was cut short when Hazelyn came stomping back inside, her face flaming and her hair all over the place. I would’ve teased her about it and made her blush but I knew that I’m not in the position to do so.

“The hotel’s fully booked, and everyone had reached their limit of people in each room, so I guess we’re stuck here,” she mumbled as I took the time to examine her. Her curves were more defined, her hair was longer and she looked way more mature now. She had on a simple dress, indicating that she came from a meeting. “Why are you all dressed?” I asked, knowing that she probably crashed last night, which is why she didn’t know I was there.

“None of your beeswax,” she mumbled and made her way to the bathroom. “I’m taking a shower,” she said before she shut the door.

By now, I was grinning like a total idiot. I have Hazelyn stuck with me for at least 4 days. My happy time was cut short when there were bangs on the door, making me groan and forced me to get out of bed and open the door. On the other side were Tristan and Stephanie looking grossly adorable.

“You’re … here,” Tristan muttered wide-eyed.

“Of course I’m here,” I rolled my eyes and stretched as I walked towards the kitchen to make a cup of coffee.

“Good to see that everything’s peaceful,” my sister muttered.

“Trust me, it wasn’t, “ I laughed dryly as I leaned over the counter, waiting for my coffee.

“What? My sister just totally ignored the fact that she’s woke up next to her ex-fiancé?” Tristan scoffed.

“Not at first. She marched down to the lobby and tried to get another room but it’s fully booked for your wedding,” I mumbled, then realized. “How’d you know that she was here?!” I asked. For a fact, I knew that Hazelyn went down to the lobby first thing, not wanting to interrupt whatever Tristan and my sister were doing.

They looked at each other wide-eyed and grinned sheepishly at me. “You’re welcome and don’t mess up this time, bro!” Tristan called out before rushing out of the place.

What the fuck just happened?

Hazelyn came out a few minutes after, completely ignoring my presence and left. I sat there for a moment thinking of the events of the past twenty or so minutes before going into the bathroom and doing more thinking.

Was that Hazelyn? Why was she acting that way?



The day was full of preparations that both Tristan and Stephanie decided to include me in.

“Hey, can you run some errands for me?” my sister asked batting her eyelashes at me.

“What errands? I don’t even know my way around,” I mumbled.

“Please, you spend every spring break here! And even half of your summer breaks!” my sister retorted, making me widen my eyes and look over at Hazelyn who had an amused look on her face.

“But I don’t have a car. It’s gonna take forever!”

“Hazelyn has a car,” Tristan propped up.

“What?” Hazelyn snapped. “Tristan!”

“Come on Lyn, please? We only have three days left!”

Hazelyn’s eyes drifted from her brother, to Stephanie to me while biting her lip - contemplating on whether turning her back on her brother and her bestfriend to avoid spending a car ride with her ex fiancé, or vice versa.

She closed her eyes and sighed. “Fine,” she finally agreed. Tristan and Stephanie snuck me a look and grinned, making me want to roll my eyes and shake my head, but I refrained from doing so.

We got into the car quietly - and awkwardly, if I may add. I know, I should be happy right? But if your companion didn’t even look at you, you’d be pretty damn annoyed and pissed off. The tension between us was unbearable! I silently cursed Tristan and my sister. Isn’t Tristan supposed to be keeping me away from his sister? Hazelyn reached over and turned on the radio to fill the silence, but all the music were in French. We both could understand it well, but it wasn’t our type of music so she just turned it off. And again, there was the tension.

“Are you mad at me?” I asked her.

“No,” she said stiffly.

“Why aren’t you talking to me,” I sighed.

“You aren’t talking to me,” she pointed out.

“Because I feel like you’re mad at me,” I said, but she only shrugged.

We finished most of the errands on the list and we were headed to our last one. We were entering the jewelry store that we were to pick up the wedding rings in. I saw one of the old cheerleaders from Stanford. I tried to hide myself so she wouldn’t notice me, but I failed. “Jay!” she squealed. I gave her an awkward smile and waved, hoping she wouldn’t come any closer. But luck wasn’t on my side, and she made her way to me. I cursed under my breath and looked towards Hazelyn whom didn’t even glance towards me. Jhoanna flung herself towards me and gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

“How have you been?” she asked in her squeaky voice.

“Pretty good,” I smiled.

“What are you doing here?” she asked.

“Picking up wedding rings,” I told her before I realized how that sounded.

“Are you serious?! Are you getting married now?” she asked. “Megan must be a damn lucky bitch,” she chuckled. Hazelyn’s head snapped towards us with a glare and I saw her roll her eyes and went back talking to the guy entertaining her.

“Ohh, no. We broke up,” I said scratching the back of my neck. “I’m getting it for-,” I got cut off though.

“Come on man-whore, we’re leaving,” Hazelyn hissed at me and walked right out the door.

“Was that Hazelyn Macintosh? Your ex-fiancé?” she asked me.

“Uh, yeah,” way to be awkward. “I’ve got to go, bye!” I waved and walked out of the store, jumping into the car where Hazelyn was just about ready to leave me.

“Did you get her number so you can fuck her tonight? Or shall I wait longer?” she sneered at me. “Just make sure it’s at her place, because there aren’t any extra rooms at the hotel.”

I was taken aback. “What’s your problem?” I snapped at her. She kept her cool though, making me even more furious.

“Nothing. I was just being considerate of your needs, seeing that you’ve gone back to your whorish self,” she said as she made her way back to the hotel. I couldn’t say anything to that, because to put it bluntly, I’m glad I don’t have STD’s. “That’s what I thought,” she spat before getting out of the car.

She took the stairs, leaving me to take the elevator. She’d only take the three sets up to the lobby from the basement, then take an elevator up to the 28th floor. I was too pissed to wait for her and try to talk to her, because I knew she’d only bitch at me.

I went into the room and immediately got into the shower, dressing up for the rehearsal dinner. Tomorrow was the bachelor’s/bachelorette’s parties and then the day after is a chill day and then the wedding.

I got out and Hazelyn was already dressed, and damn - she looked even more gorgeous. She looked towards me with a glare, which I had to admit-hurt because I was always used to her looking at me full of love and passion.

I sighed and went to get my tie and the rest of my suit, which was on the couch next to her purse. “You ready to go?” I asked Hazelyn after I finished getting ready. I expected a rude bark, but I got a nod and she made her way to me - taking her clutch from her purse - putting her phone, hotel key, her regular keys and her wallet inside. But as she was shoving her wallet inside, she dropped it and out of reflex, I bent down to get it but the flap opened. Inside, there was one of those photo album looking things and it landed on a familiar picture.

It was of her and I, during our summer of senior year at the Fiji islands. We were on the beach taking silly pictures, and it was one that she was kissing my cheek while I had a grossed out expression. I smiled at the memory.

”Let’s take pictures!” Hazelyn squealed.

“But I don’t want to,” I whined. She straddled my lap and pouted her lips at me.

“Please babe?” she pleaded.

“Fine,” I rolled my eyes. She cheered and got off my lap, but not before kissing my lips and jumped over next to me, taking out her phone and quickly began taking pictures of us. It was actually fun - I had to admit- and I was having fun. I mean, anything with Hazelyn in fun, right?

“Here,” she said as she held her phone in front of us, and kissed my cheek. I made a grossed out expression though, so when she saw the preview, she gasped. “You know what? I’m not kissing you anymore, you don’t like it!” she whined.

“Fine then,” I pouted back at her.

“You’re adorable, I can't resist,” she grinned at me and pecked my lips quickly. I chuckled and held onto her as we watched the sunset.

“Earth to planet idiot, can I please have my wallet back?” I heard her.

“What? Oh, sorry,” I frowned and handed it to her, forgetting to close it. She saw the picture I was staring at, and she quickly shut it, biting her lip and put it in her clutch, walking out without another word.

I sighed. Great, this is gonna be a long week.